Song September
by Silver Butterfly 111
Summary: A collection of One-shots based off of songs. One for each day in September. Some angst, some fluff a few alternative scenes, a handful of reveal fics and even a couple attempts to write our protagonists as the villains? That's all here and more! – Summary sucks :( – (Rated T just to be safe)
1. Aftertaste

**So I decided to challenge myself to do a series of Miraculous Ladybug one-shots based off of songs: One for each day in September. I am 13 days behind because I decided to do this just yesterday at like...11 PM so if anyone has song recommendations that they want to see me turn into chapters (song genre/type doesn't matter) PLEASE PM me or leave the Title and Artist of the requested song in a review! Thanks! :)**

* * *

 **Song: Aftertaste**

 **Artist: Shawn Mendes**

–

His words echoed in her mind every single time she tried to close her eyes to forget the events of what had happened. It had been two weeks. Just two weeks ago that he had finally confessed to her and she'd refused to believe it because she'd been scared... scared to tell him her own true self and now….now she couldn't confess her greatest secret to him even though she wanted to….because that wouldn't fix things.

"I'm sorry…" her voice broke and she choked on her tears as she forced another breath through her lungs. "Please forgive me." but he wasn't here, he couldn't hear her. She squeezed her eyes shut and the memories rose up from the darkness to haunt her.

–

" _I'm Adrien."_

 _She froze at his words. Surely she had heard wrong. "W-What?" She asked, turning back to face him, staring into glowing green cat eyes that looked back at her with determination and yet were still so uncertain._

" _I'm Adrien Agreste."_

 _She'd just stared at him the words caught in her throat as she panicked. She wanted to run but she stood frozen in place as he stepped closer to her._

" _Please... please tell me who you are... I need to know." He reached out to touch her face, tracing the edge of her red mask._

 _She almost cried as she shut her eyes trying to control the sense of panic and confusion and worst of all... dread...that had sent her heart into a frantic rhythm._

 _She closed her eyes, savoring his touch even as the rational part of her wanted to push him away and run._

" _Who are you?" He asked- no... begged... oh god he was begging her. His voice was barely a whisper, she swallowed._

" _No one important."_

 _The words were bitter even to her own ears, but it was the truth she wasn't anyone important- not like him- not like he was important to her- she was just a nobody without the mask she was a nobody._

" _You can't fool me, you're important... to me."_

 _No. No._ Ladybug _was important to him. Not Marinette. He loved Ladybug. He rarely noticed her as Marinette._

 _If she told him she was Marinette then... he'd be so disappointed!_

 _So she kept her silence and battled with the tremors that threatened to shake her entire body as he placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head upward but she refused to open her eyes and face the truth that he'd just thrown at her._

 _Kept her eyes closed even as he kissed her. "I'm sorry, I just had to tell you. You don't have to tell me until you're ready. I understand."_

 _Did he? Did he really? She doubted it. And…'i'm sorry' what was_ he _sorry for? For being the most important person in her life?_

 _He pulled away from her and she felt the space widening between them like a canyon forming after an earthquake._

 _She opened her eyes to make sure that he was really gone before she finally let herself cry..._

 _–_

.. She buried her face into her pillow remembering the time just three months ago that he'd been in her room to play video games- she'd given him that bracelet- a lucky charm... had he actually kept it?

It didn't matter, a silly little bracelet couldn't have changed what had happened.

It hurt. It wasn't fair. It should have been _her_. The memory of her scream reverberated inside her skull- trying to make her head explode from the inside out.

–

" _NO!" She tried to push him out of the path of the incoming bullet, even as she watched him crumple to the sidewalk gasping for breath as the blood turned his black leather suit even darker…_

 _–_

It was _her_ fault and she couldn't help thinking that if she had told him who she was then none of what had happened would have happened but she'd thrown away her chance and she wouldn't get another one because….because he was….

Gone.

And no matter how many times she confessed who she was to the empty air where he used to stand. No matter how many times she said. "I'm Ladybug. I'm Ladybug." In the tone of a broken-hearted mantra it wasn't going to bring him back.

She tried to comfort herself by telling herself that it would have hurt more if she had told him but she wasn't sure if that was true or not because that wasn't part of her reality.

The reality she lived in was one where she _hadn't_ told him who she was because she was scared.

And that truth held a pain worse then getting shot with a million bullets….she didn't care how selfish it was for her to wish she could erase him from her brain. Forget about him, forget the cause of her grief.

Forget his laugh.

His voice.

His kind words.

His stupid puns.

His utter faith and trust in her that had ultimately failed him in the end.

That was the worst part of all this.

She had _failed_ him.

Saved Paris but had failed to save her partner, her confidant, her not-so secret crush...her friend.

No one could replace that. Replace him. Even if Master Fu managed to find another person to be the holder of the Cat Miraculous.

Even if there was a new Chat Noir.

It wouldn't be the same.

They wouldn't be _her_ Chat Noir they wouldn't be her Adrien.

She wished she had been brave enough to tell him who she was because now….now she was just left with horrible memories and the aftertaste of when he'd kissed her goodbye.


	2. It's A Sin

**Song: It's A Sin**

 **Artist: The Pet Shop Boys**

 **(Song suggested by** **TheCryptkeeper)**

* * *

How come he couldn't do anything right?

How come his father yelled at him for every little mistake that he made?

He was _trying_.

Trying to live up to an unrealistic expectation set upon him by his perfectionist of a father.

Even when he was "perfect" and listened and shut his mouth and didn't say anything.

It was wrong.

So what if he messed up?

He was a human being!

People made mistakes.

He wasn't perfect! No matter how hard he tried to be.

How hard he pretended to be.

In his father's eyes even being "perfect" would be seen as a sin.

 _No you did it wrong._

 _No that's not good enough._

His father had tried to teach him to be perfect when the very _idea_ of perfect was impossible!

 _I don't like you hang out with those kids Adrien. They are clearly a bad influence._

So what? They were his friends.

When was his father going to realize that all of this pressure was weighing him down?


	3. Airplanes

**Song: Airplanes**

 **Artist: Hayley Williams + Travis Garland remix**

* * *

Adrien sat in the stiffed back leather chair at the airport. Staring out the window at the setting sun.

He'd been in New York for Fashion Week.

Now.

Now he was going home.

His gut twisted as he thought of returning to the city he had lived in all his life.

The streets crowded with tourists trying to get pictures of the Eiffel Tower- He never really understood what was so special about it, yeah it an architectural masterpiece; but it was an architectural masterpiece that he saw everyday. It was a rare thing for him to stop and actually gawk at it like tourists did.

His thoughts shifted to more personal things, things that he actually really did miss.

His friends for example.

One blue-eyed, black haired person in particular came to mind and he suddenly was hit by a wave of nostalgia.

It was hard to believe that he and Marinette had been dating for almost five years and even harder for him to believe that she'd had that type of patience to wait that long especially when he'd been pretty oblivious to her crush on him until she'd finally admitted to having said crush and asked him out.

He was so so glad that he'd said yes she was so amazing.

She was so...amazing.

Her laugh was so adorable.

She always listened to him when he needed to complain about things.

She never failed to cheer him up when he was in a mood….

She always stole cookies from the bakery for him to snack on, even though he was supposed to be keeping a diet because of modeling….

That was the one thing he regretted about their relationship.

He had to be away from her far more than he would have liked to be.

His career sometimes required traveling and if it wasn't traveling, it was just a matter of a busy schedule sometimes he had more than one photo shoot in one day or a number of smaller charity events that everyone else insisted he be at.

He just wished he had more time for Marinette.

They made time but he wished they had more.

The homesick feeling only got worse when he thought about it.

He stared down at the plane ticket in his hand, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he recalled what he always said to her before he went to an event out of the country.

" _Make a wish on every airplane, one of them will always be the one that brings me home."_

She'd roll her eyes and call him a romantic sap.

His smile widened.

He was going home.


	4. Marry You

**Song: Marry You**

 **Artist: Bruno Mars**

 **(Song requested by Creepy-Pasta)**

 **((speed-typing powers active! :D ))**

* * *

Nights in Paris were always pretty.

The stars were absolutely gorgeous the full moon washed everything in a white light. Coupled with the fact that the Eiffel Tower was all lit up

Granted it was kind of difficult to enjoy things like that to the full extent when you were falling _off_ of the aforementioned Tower.

Normally he should have been panicking under such circumstances but he wasn't so much as screaming.

He'd been in this situation before.

 _Yup. Falling off the Eiffel Tower. Regular Tuesday. No sweat._

Chat twisted in mid-air so that he was looking up at the sky instead of staring at the fast-approaching ground. He heard the high-pitched _zip_ of sting and in the next instant something snagged on his wrist and he was being pulled back up through the air.

He scrambled up over the railing of the tower as Ladybug tugged on her yo-yo once more, causing it to unwind from his wrist.

"You okay?" She asked.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes and trying to shrug off his embarrassment.

"Pfft, yeah thanks for the save but that was unnecessary. Cats always land on their feet."

"Whatever you say, but in my experience you seem to lack that useful trait." She commented.

He crossed his arms. "Who's side are you on?"

"Speaking of sides, we kind of still have _that_ to deal with." Ladybug reminded, casually motioning over her shoulder towards the newest akuma villain. He flashed her a grin as he bent into a bow.

"Ladies first." He purred with an overly-dramatic sweep of his arm.

 _Kill me now._ He thought, as he watched her jump back into the fray. Someone, make sure he had a heart attack right _now_ because _that_ was the last thing he wanted to see before he died. Sometimes the mere sight of her was enough to send his love-sick heart fluttering in his chest like a panicked bird.

She was so confident and self assured and just….. kill him now...

"You sure you're okay?"

He snapped out of his thoughts as her voice reached his ears...Well.. almost.

 _Oh God her voice; so soft, so gentle so sweet and the undertone of concern….. and the way her eyes reflect the_ starlight. "Marry me."

"What?"

His thoughts screeched to a stop like a scratched record. Had he said that that last part out loud?

 _Well that was about as subtle as a brick to the face. Nice going, Casanova._ He mentally kicked himself and cleared his throat.

"N-nothing." He looked around for something to change the subject, realizing that the akuma had disappeared. She'd saved Paris as usual and he'd been too oblivious to notice.

"Good job." He extended his hand towards her expecting their usual victory fist bump.

She hummed and stepped closer to him. _Was...was that a giggle? Did she actually giggle at me?_ "Where's the ring, Chaton?" she teased, twisting the black ring on his own finger for emphasis.

 _So she did hear that._

His heart stopped and his thoughts suffered another mental record scratch.

She was teasing him. _Oh God._ It wasn't fair how easily she could flip the tables on him! Couldn't she see what she was doing to him? Usually she didn't flirt back with him which he was fine with- if she wanted to play hard to get then so be it- okay okay- more likely her civilian self already had a boyfriend because how did a girl like … _.her...not_ have someone to worship the ground she walked on? He certainly could sympathize with whichever poor sap was lucky enough to have caught her attention.

 _She must have him wrapped around her finger._

 _Lucky idiot._

 _Jealous._

He recovered enough of his swagger to reply with a fair amount of his usual flirtatiousness. Blinking himself out of his daze.

"Surely there's an army of men competing for your lovely affections, M'lady." he placed a kiss to the back of her palm, his head still bowed as she withdrew her hand from his.

His ears picked up the sound of her laugh….was it just him or did the usual chime of it sound off-key...dare he say bitter?

"You'd be surprised by your lack of competition Chaton."

He felt himself go weak when she used her nickname for him again.

Call _me that all the time_! He pleaded her silently.

He tilted his head to the side, looking up at her as he straightened. "What do you mean? There's...no one?" He tried not to sound too hopeful at the prospect that he didn't have to compete with anyone else for her attention. Maybe he had a chance!

She only shrugged in response, seeming to shrink a little bit as she slumped. Was... she… being shy? He hadn't thought her capable of that type of behavior. It was…. _adorable_...and here he had thought he couldn't possibly love her anymore!

The moment of weakness was gone in the span of a breath as she lifted her chin back up to recapture eye contact with him as she flickered the golden bell at his throat, turning away from him to glance back over her shoulder. "See you around."

And then she was gone.

He finally let his knees give out as he slid to the ground, leaning against the metal beam of the railing as he watched her disappear over the Pairs rooftops.

 _God help you, you poor love-sick fool!_ He thought to himself.


	5. Tiptoes

**Song: Tiptoes**

 **Artist: Jayme Dee**

(Post Horrificator episode)

* * *

Marinette was on cloud nine.

 _I almost kissed Adrien Agreste._

 _Cholé just_ had _to come in and ruin it. At least Nino had been frustrated about Cholé ruining the scene._

 _At least we got the movie finished and destroyed the akuma on top of everything else._

 _But…. I almost kissed Adrien!_

She couldn't help the squeal that bubbled out of her throat.

"Oh my gosh, Girl, you need to chill." Alya rolled her eyes.

"You don't get it, I was _this_ close!" Marinette gushed; holding her thumb and forefinger a centimeter apart.

"It would have happened if Cholé hadn't ruined everything." Alya grumbled, disappointed that her plan had been so close to success only for everything to go up in smoke.

"A girl can dream." Marinette sighed into her pillow


	6. Shakespeare

**Song: Shakespeare**

 **Artist: Miranda Cosgrove**

* * *

"Dude, cute girl, five o'clock." Adrien looked up when he heard Nino speak and turned to stare at the girl who had caught his friends attention.

"Bet you five bucks that you can't go and talk to her."

"That's extremely shallow." Adrien scolded without taking his eyes off the girl.

Admittedly she was cute: blue eyes, black hair, pink cheeks, pale skin.

"So you forfeit and owe me five bucks, pay up or go over there. Come on man, she's staring at you now." Nino encouraged, giving him a shove in the girl's direction.

She blinked as he stumbled into her path.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"…"

"..."

" _..." Awkward,"_ Adrien thought. "... so….. what's your name?"

"Marinette."

"I'm Adrien."

"Hey."

 _Not the most smooth way to break the ice but I'll take it._

"My friend made a bet with me that I wouldn't come and talk to you." He braced himself to get slapped. Usually when guys said stuff like that to girls they got slapped.

Marinette just shot him a weird look and looked over his shoulder at Nino; an amused smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She turned her focus back to Adrien. "Well, I'd hate for you to lose a bet….walk me home?"

"Sure!"

"Thanks," she stepped forward into the mass of people that were spilling out of the subway train that had just pulled into the station. "Come on."

"I'm really sorry about my friend." Adrien apologized for a second time. "You probably think I'm a jerk."

"No, if I thought you were a jerk I would have slapped you."

"I was kinda expecting you to." Adrien admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well I didn't….you seem nice, even if you're friend is an idiot who needs some serious romantic advice."

"I'll be sure to tell him you said that."

She leaned her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in her hands, turning to look at him. "So…. Do you like Shakespeare?"

–

The train stopped and the door slid open, he stood up, offering her his arm.

–

"Well, this is my stop." She stopped in front of a corner shop that looked like a bakery.

He released her hand and to a step back. "It was nice meeting you."

She took a step closer to him. "Likewise," she pressed something into his hand. "You need solid proof you won your bet, wouldn't want your friend to back out of the bet."

Adrien shrugged. "The bet was stupid anyway, who cares about five bucks?"

She frowned, then mirrored his shrugged. "At least call me sometime?" She turned away and disappeared into the bakery before he could fully process what she'd said.

He looked down at his hand where she'd put a slip of paper into his palm.

Her phone number...

Oh man, Nino was going to flip!


	7. A Thousand Years

**Song: A Thousand Years**

 **Artist: Christina Perri**

 **(Song requested by Creepy-Pasta)**

* * *

 _Paris, 1920._

...

It always started with a death.

"Tikki, spots off." The command was barely a whisper as her current Ladybug was drawing her last breathes.

Tikki could only look on with grim acceptance.

"They're dying." She voiced the morbid thought and suddenly there was a flash of green light as the current Chat Noir finally summoned enough strength to voice the words that released his own transformation.

The light faded, revealing Plagg floating in the space above his dying master.

"I know." the cat Kwami whispered floating over to Tikki and wrapping his tail around the distressed Kwami.

Drawing her into his arms. "Hush, it will be all right."

"But it's just going to start again. I'm going to lose you again."

"No, no you're not. Not forever I _will_ find you. We always find each other this time will be no different. I promise."

She said nothing as she pressed her forehead to Plagg's and then they were being pulled apart by the invisible wind and sucked back into their Miraculous' as Chat Noir and Ladybug each drew their final breath.

Inside their Miraculous' the two Kwamis began their dormant sleep and waited for the Great Guardian to find them and give them to their next Holders.

… _.._

 _Pairs, 2016._

The box had finally been opened.

Plagg yawned and stretched and eyed his next Miraculous Holder with a guarded sense of curiosity.

Across town Tikki was going through a similar experience.

and so the cycle began anew.

….

They say love at first sight doesn't exist.

And that's true.

The first time every Chat Noir and Ladybug make eye contact it's not love at first sight. It's an unspoken level of communication flowing between the two small beings inside the Miraculous jewelry.

 _I'm here, I found you._

 _I see you, I know you._

No, it was not love at first sight, they had seen each other a thousand times before, and prayed they would see each other a thousand times again.


	8. Invisible

**Song: Invisible**

 **Artist: Hunter Hayes**

* * *

Marinette drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on her kneecaps. Today had been awful. Absolutely awful, Cholé had embarrassed her in front of the entire class. It was a stupid childish level of embarrassment I'll she'd done was cause Marinette to trip and then she'd laughed and called Marinette a klutzy idiot with two left feet.

" _Watch where you're going."_

Normally she could brush off Cholé's insults pretty easily she was just an attention-seeking brat who had to put other people down in order to make herself feel better. She acted entitled.

Marinette wouldn't give her the satisfaction, but that didn't mean that the words didn't sting sometimes.

There was a knock on the trapdoor that led to her balcony. Curious she stretched her legs out and hopped off her bed; crossing her room.

Swinging the door open to reveal Chat Noir.

Confused and a little bit startled she took a step back. "What are you doing here?"

"I sensed a damsel in distress. Tough day?"

She blinked at him.

 _How does he know_? She mused silently to herself.

"I'm fine." She assured him gently.

He didn't look convinced.

She sighed. He likely wasn't going to leave until she came up with a better excuse. Or….

"I just- feel invisible sometimes. Not that you would understand that." She turned away from him, not having any desire to continue the conversation further.

"Oh trust me, I understand."

She glanced over her shoulder at him. Silently encouraging him to continue. She'd listen to his problems just so long as they stayed off the subject of hers.

"What do you mean?" She pushed gently.

"I feel invisible sometimes."

She said nothing.

"I'm the second half of a duo. Everyone else pays attention to Ladybug most of the time, she's the lucky one. She fixes everything. Saves everyone. Some people don't think I'm necessary."

Marinette opened her mouth to protest but she couldn't seem to get the words out.

"People don't want bad luck to hang around, so people just kind of...brush me off. I deal with it though, people talk about you and you overhear it sometimes but you just gotta brush it off."

 _I didn't know he felt like that._

"It still hurts you though," Marinette muttered.

"Sometimes," Chat admitted "but, wounds heal."

"They call me a klutz."

"So what? People make mistakes, you just have to pick yourself back up."

"I don't have a lot of confidence."

"Yes, you do it's just not on the outside as much, but it's inside there somewhere and you'll find it, you're not invisible Marinette."

"Neither are you."


	9. Future Looks Good

**Song: Future Looks Good**

 **Artist: One Republic**

* * *

Adrien awoke with a jolt, staring at the ceiling casted in shadows. He'd had that dream again.

The one where he walked into a room and talked with an old man. " _Your mother is gone, your father neglects you."_

" _Yes."_ Adrien would always reply honestly despite being very certain that he had never seen this man in his life. The man was part of his subconscious mind; some sort of coping mechanism that his brain had conjured up in order to have him face the hard and ugly truth. Of course the man would know what had happened in his life.

 _The man would just rub his chin thoughtfully and reply "you are the future-"_ and then Adrien would wake up, left to ponder what that meant in the dark.

Adrien tossed away his blankets and stood, he had his first day of public school today.

Okay, he didn't really have permission to go to the school per say so really his plan was to ditch his bodyguard and Natalie and run there the first chance he got- not a solid plan he knew but it was the best he could come up with.

…

He could see the steps. He could also here the car that was behind him in pursuit. He was _so_ close!

Somewhat frantic he whipped his head from side to side, trying to spot an escape route.

Instead he caught sight of an old man. The old man was lying in the middle of the crosswalk reaching for his wooden cane which had rolled out of his reach when he'd fallen.

Adrien froze for a moment, utterly shocked by the scene. It wasn't the fact that the man had fallen and no one seemed inclined to help him, no it was the fact that this man looked exactly like the man from his dream.

And maybe it was that fact that caused Adrien to snap out of his shock and go help the poor man onto his feet.

Once the old man had straightened and reclaimed his walking stick from Adrien's hand he smiled, placing something small into Adrien's palm.

"You are the future."

Stunned, all Adrien could do was blink, Natalie had caught up to him now and was tugging on his shoulder, steering him towards the car.

Adrien turned to her, meaning to brush her off and turn back to ask the old man what he'd meant by his cryptic message but when the teen turned back to ask the question, the old man had disappeared.

Disappointed Adrien shoved his hands into his pockets, completely for getting about the object the man had given him as he allowed himself to be taken back to the car.

A little brown and red jewelry box with a ring stashed away in his pocket and the words "you are the future" given to him by a mysterious man.


	10. Unwritten

**Song: Unwritten**

 **Artist: Natasha Bedingfield**

* * *

Marinette wasn't the type of girl to go anywhere without first informing her parents.

This time would have to be an expectation to that rule.

She couldn't just throw up her trap door and scream down the stairs. ' bye Mom, bye Dad I'm off to be a superhero. I should be back home for dinner!'

So instead she turned back to look at her unfinished homework before she turned away from that as well and instead opened the trapdoor that lead to her balcony.

Tossing her yo-yo in her hand uncertain of what it was supposed to do.

She tossed it in the air.

Aiming for a statue of a gargoyle on the roof of a building across the street. She tugged, it seemed to have gotten stuck. She tugged again a little harder this time and let out a panicked scream as she was suddenly being pulled through the air towards a unwritten destiny that was how her story began.


	11. Weak

**Song: Weak**

 **Artist: Ajr**

* * *

It started with the simple sentence a question that was so normal despite the circumstances being anything but normal.

He should have said no. It was past midnight, he should have been asleep any normal person would have been asleep, but it wasn't every day that a superhero showed up at your open window asking to be let into your room.

So he just nodded mutely, too sleep deprived to give her a verbal response and Ladybug swung her legs over the windowsill and landed on the floor of his bedroom with a barely audible thud.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Another quiet shrug and a nod.

"Me either." she replied, voice barely above a whisper.

"Why are you here?" Adrien finally managed to get the words out of his mouth. His own tone a whisper.

It was her turn to go mute.

Three seconds passed before she finally replied, voice a nervous stutter. "It's probably really s-stupid but I heard t-that you me like- I-I mean like me- that you liked me! That you liked Ladybug and I-I-"

 _God I really wanted to kiss her._ He thought. That was also probably really stupid but he couldn't help himself. It was a temptation that had been plaguing him for a while now.

And so he gave into it.

He kissed her, cutting her off mid-stutter. She squeaked, going rigid as her likely just as sleep deprived brain took time to process what was happening and in the next instant she'd wrapped her arms around his neck.

Encouraged by her positive reaction he kissed her a little harder even as he heard his common sense trying to scream at him past his sleep-deprived kiss-addled haze that had descended on his brain.

 _This is bad, hello wake up! What if someone comes in here and sees you kissing Ladybug! How do you plan to explain that? Huh?!_

He pulled away from her, embarrassed and blushing as the full weight of his actions hit him.

She looked equally as red and embarrassed at least from what he could see thanks to the moonlight that was spilling in through the window she'd come through.

He opened his mouth to spew out an apology but only succeed in standing there his jaw opening and closing like a fish out of water.

She seemed just as incapable of speech. Staring at him her blue eyes tinted silver in the moonlight as she reached up to touch her fingers to her lips.

"Well I guess that answers my question." She muttered almost as if she were lost in her own daze a little shy considering smile on her lips as she blinked at him.

Adrien wanted to kiss her again.

"See- see you around?"

He nodded slowly still staring at her.

"O-okay then." And then she was gone.


	12. I Hope You Dance

**Song: I Hope You Dance**

 **Artist: Lee Ann Womack**

* * *

His mother had been the kind of person who would spontaneously start dancing.

Twirling around the mansions wide marble floors entirely on a whim and often without any actual music.

When Adrien had been smaller she would drag him along; swinging him in her arms as they made patterns across the floor with their feet.

She'd been the kind of person who would comfort him after nightmares. Singing him little bits of lullabies that had long since been lost to memory.

The kind of person who was always out in the sun, chasing butterflies even though she was in her thirties and those types of activities should have been "beneath" someone of her age.

The type of person who lived by the phase. "Carpe Diem."

In short: the complete _opposite_ of his father.

He would have expected his father to disappear out of the blue.

Never in a million years would have have expected _her_ to vanish and not come back.

The entire event of her disappearance still left him feeling oddly betrayed and hollow inside. Even more so when she didn't come back with an apology and explanation.

He'd turned to his father as a type of coping mechanism, trying to please the one parent that was still around how cold and withdrawn his father seemed.

Tried to please him even though he wasn't around half the time.

And pleasing his father consisted of sitting still and being quiet and pouring himself into his studies and his fencing and his lessons which he was okay with- most of the time- at least all of the work provided some level of distraction for him.

Still... sometimes he couldn't help humming under his breath or sliding across the polished marble floor when he just as easily could have walked from one room to the next; casting hopefully glances at the tall double door entrance part of him still expecting her to come waltzing through those doors and hug him.

He'd forgive her for leaving because that was what family did, and then everything would go back to the way it had been before- as if nothing had happened and she had never been gone in the first place.


	13. One Grain of Sand

**Song: One Grain of Sand**

 **Artist: Ron Pope**

* * *

"I'm sorry Chat I love someone else."

Those words hurt. Hurt more than he'd like to admit he supposed he should have known.

Maybe he had romanticized her.

Maybe he'd been an idiot but he didn't regret loving her. He'd never regret it, and what hurt most about this entire thing was that even after he'd been rejected by her without a shadow of a doubt. He _still_ loved her.

He wasn't mad that she had brushed him and all of his efforts off entirely….at least not as mad as he should have been.

And he was oddly _okay_ with still loving her even when it hurt him this much- to the point where an almost a physical pain grew in his chest bent on crushing his heart- because if he went numb…that would have scared him.

He just hoped that whoever she had chosen over him would be worth it for her.

He wanted to see her happy, even if it hurt him because that was what partners did for each other.

So what if he took the fall? She was worth it. Her happy. That was all he wanted if she wasn't happy with him…..then he'd have to live with that because….that was how it would be.

So what if he was finally awake from his dream?

So what if his heart was shattering?

What could he possibly say...or do... that would change her mind?


	14. Waiting For Superman

**Song: Waiting for Superman**

 **Artist: Daughtry**

 _What was so special about Adrien Agreste?_

 _Why did she even bother to continue this childish crush on him when he seemed perfectly content just being friends._

 _Why didn't she just embrace the fact that he wasn't interested her like that and go after someone else- why didn't she transform into Ladybug and go hunt down Chat and reveal herself? Him she might have a chance with, Chat wanted to know who she was... so why didn't she tell him? Why was she so set on Adrien Agreste?_

Because...Adrien was _normal_.

Chat was interested in Ladybug but the reason Marinette didn't return his feelings when she was Ladybug was because she didn't want to mix up her hero and her civilian lives like that.

She wanted a normal relationship.

And Adrien Agreste despite being a semi-famous teen model and above-average attractive….he was also sweet and kind and down to earth and blissly normal... Marinette wanted normal she wanted to be a regular girl who wouldn't have to make excuses to run off and ditch her friends. There were days when she would have given up her alter-ego Ladybug to be a normal girl. Worrying about clothes or weather or not she could be rush-hour traffic, some upcoming test- boring mundane things- she didn't want to have to worry about all the boring mundane things on _top_ of weather or not she would die fighting some crazy akuma or being unmasked by some evil mastermind- that was just too _much_ stress.

So she kept up the silly, childish crush on Adrien Agreste not only because she couldn't help it- but because she hoped that maybe if she was lucky he would notice her and give her the bit of normal that she wanted in her life.

If only she knew the truth. That maybe he wasn't as normal as she'd like to believe.

As they say 'love is blind.'


	15. Ready Or Not

**Song: Ready or Not**

 **Artist: Bridgit Mendler**

* * *

Marinette was tired of being the shy pushover of a girl that everyone except for Alya thought she was.

She wasn't a fifteen year-old stuttering mess of a girl anymore.

It was time she stopped being so shy.

She marched into homeroom, chin up had thrown back, shoes clicking on the tile floor as she made her way across the room to Alya.

Channeling her inner Ladybug confidence.

Even so she couldn't help a slightly girlish squeal of excitement from escaping her as she turned to face her best friend.

 _You're seventeen. Get it together._ She mentally chided herself as she bounced on her feet, struggling to maintain her composure.

"I'm gonna tell him." Was all she said as she leaned over, speaking in as low a voice as she could manage through her excitement.

"About time." Alya said, not even _attempting_ to make her voice quite.

Marinette slapped her friend's arm, a fraction of her old shyness coming back at her friend's over enthusiastic reaction.

…..

They wandered into the lunchroom, scanning the crowded place for blond hair and a pair of green eyes.

Alya saw him first, half leading half pushing Marinette across the room and directly to his table so Marinette's normally shy demeanor had no chance to resurface and make her chicken out of her own idea.

Adrien looked up at them and waved.

An awkward pause ensued as Marinette struggled to get the sentence out.

"So..um Ilikeyou." The last part of her sentence blurred together in a rush and she swallowed. Apparently shyness would be a difficult habit to kill.

She waited for his response.

Saw him blink as he finally picked apart her words. Then he laughed- a good laugh, not at all condescending.

 _I've heard that laugh before._ She thought as she watched him lean back in his chair, a grin spreading across his face. "I was wondering if you were ever going to admit it."

She blinked. Whatever answer she'd been expecting….that certainly it.

 _I've seen that smile before... where have I seen that smile before…._

She shook her head to clear the distracting thought, blinking at him one more time before she returned his smile.


	16. Wonderland

**Song: Wonderland**

 **Artist: Taylor Swift**

* * *

"I want to know who you are." The words spilled from Marinette's mouth before she could bite her tongue.

Chat's embrace around her tightened.

It was so strange when they interacted like this- her having to pretend she didn't know him, when she did- but she didn't…not really but she wanted to. She _wanted_ to know who he was.

"Then I'll show you."

His words startled her, enough for her to pull out of his hug and stare at him open mouthed. She hadn't expected him to _agree_ to it and she quickly tried to backtrack. "But-but we _can't!_ "

He blinked at her, clearly confused.

"Is it so bad, that you want to know who I am?"

The words came out with no small amount of hurt laced with them.

"Yes, it's dangerous!"

"What's so dangerous about it?"

" Everything! It would put me in danger, it would put you in danger!"

He grinned at her like a Cheshire cat.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"In this situation it could! This is serious Chat. You can't tell me or anyone who you really are it...it could be impossibly dangerous!... what why are you looking at me like that?"

"No..no reason. You just sound like Ladybug."

Her heart leapt into her throat and she hoped her inner panic didn't show in her face.

She wouldn't admit it but she was kind of hoping that he'd be the first one to figure out who she was, that would make things easier or so she hoped. He was the one who seemed so set on the idea that they should reveal themselves to each other after all.

Part of her also _didn't_ want him to figure out that Marinette and Ladybug were the same person because then this...odd little friendship that had been building between Chat and Marinette for these past few weeks would….change...into what she didn't know but it would change and she didn't want that to happen either. It was kind of nice seeing this almost different side of him.

She leaned that he liked video games- he was extremely competitive- she learned he was trained in a number of musical instruments (he refused to play anything for her) and he teased her and she found herself able to tease him back. It wasn't flirting he saved _that_ for Ladybug but she even found _that_ less annoying and more….endearing...still annoying just... less so.

Maybe that's why she hadn't stopped the words when they came out of her mouth despite how dangerous they were.

"How so? How do I sound like Ladybug?"

"... she doesn't think it's a very good idea that we tell each other who we are."

"Oh."

"... I'm tired of hiding."

Marinette wouldn't say it, but she agreed with him.

"... I'm sorry, it's just... better this way for now... you... you can show me who you are someday... maybe it will be safer someday... just not today."

She knew the words weren't very comforting but it was the best she could do because while she was tired of hiding. She also wasn't quite ready for things to change. Not yet...soon maybe- but not yet.


	17. Bird With A Broken Wing

**Song: Bird with a Broken Wing**

 **Artist: Owl City**

* * *

The Miraculous were supposed to be used for good.

Not evil.

Nooroo was out of his element.

He'd tried to convince his master of this and had failed miserably.

His master had chosen.

And Nooroo had no choice but comply with his master's desires.

As good as his end goals seemed his methods of obtaining said goals had gotten twisted somewhere inside his grief-stricken soul.

And so Nooroo became entangled in his master's plots and was now in the hands of a hero-turned-villain.

And it was either listen to this man or die.

And Nooroo certainly didn't want to die. Maybe that was selfish.

So be it.

Yes he believed that the Miraculous should be used for their intended purpose of goodness but he also could not really go against his master's will.

The best he could hope for was some kind of escape from this dark world he'd been placed in.

Maybe he could escape.

Maybe Tikki or Plagg or one of the other Kwami would triumph over evil and bring their Chosen to come and free him.

But as the days ticked by into weeks and then months his hope began to dwindle.

Or maybe they had forgotten about him….didn't care about him...if that was the case then so be it.

If this was what he was going to be the final chapter in his story then there wasn't much he could think of that would change that.


	18. Dynasty

**Song: Dynasty**

 **Artist: MIIA**

* * *

Maybe they had been fools.

Maybe they'd finally been outsmarted by the thief that had been trying to rob them for so long.

Maybe this event would be ignored in the future, the ugly ending no one wanted to hear, the pages torn out of the story book.

This was the end.

What was there to admit?

That they had lost.

In the stories and the movies the heroes weren't supposed to be the ones who lost.

Who wants to hear a story that was that depressing?

This wasn't a story, this was real life and now they were forced to watch as everything they had worked so hard to protect crumbled before their eyes; as the careful foundations of trust they had built with the people of Paris became to crumble and fall before their very eyes. Every battle they had ever won against an akuma to build that fragile trust. Every victory they'd ever achieved suddenly meant nothing as the general public realized that their heroes had been unmasked and defeated.

The _disappointment_. In their eyes as they looked on in stunned horror.

The lingering hope that somehow Chat Noir and Ladybug would get up and manage to turn the tide of battle back to their favor.

In the stories heros always managed to get back up on their feet and save the day even when everything seemed impossibly bleak and hopeless.

This was not a story.

They did not get up.

Sometimes heros don't always win.

Sometimes heros die.


	19. Black Roses

**Song: Black Roses**

 **Artist: Clare Bowen**

* * *

They called him the infamous Chat Noir. Black cats. Bad luck.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the kind of person who liked to believe that there was good in every single person even if that person happened to be Paris's most infamous criminal.

At least... until he'd set his sight on her parents.

She didn't know exactly what had happened. All she knew was that she'd come home one night to find that the bakery was on fire.

She'd almost ran into the house but she stayed rooted to the spot lips parted in a wordless scream as she watched her house and her parents' business go up in smoke as his words echoed in her head to mock her.

" _We're on different sides."_

" _Who says we have to be? People change you can be a good person."_

Even then she chose not to blame him for any of it. It was her own stupid fault for thinking she could change him. This was all her fault.

...

She'd found the first black rose resting on her pillow.

Anyone else would have found the whole situation strange and unnerving everyone knew that a black rose was a warning sign an omen that the black cat was soon to follow.

She'd stood in her bedroom, staring first at the window and then the trap door in her ceiling as an odd little shiver worked its way up her spine.

Okay admittedly she was a bit frightened by the whole thing and she felt like she was being watched.

She picked up the rose, twisting it in her fingers. She should tell someone warn someone try and stop whatever scheme he had planned before he could start it.

She couldn't tell anyone about this though it would likely just put more people in danger then was necessary.

She waited three days, nerves on edge but when no misfortune or tragedy befell her or her family she began to relax. That had probably been part of his plan now that she looked back on it but it was what happened.

She found the second black rose sitting on her windowsill when she woke up one morning and with no other obvious option to hide it in the wave of panic that descended upon her at the sight of it, she shoved it into her purse and shut the window with an unnecessarily loud slam.

Two more days passed with nothing unfortunate to speak of.

Seriously what was he even doing? Was this some sort of sick and twisted joke? Somebody's idea of a prank? Two could play that game.

...

The third rose fell on top of her when she opened her trap door leading to her balcony.

It was a miracle that she didn't get her eyes poked out by the thorns.

She snapped off the stem until only a centimeter of the green stock remained. Now that she'd stripped it of it's thorns she stashed it away in her purse.

Only to take it out and turn it in her fingers, feeling the smooth velvet-like petals it was pretty, once you got past all of the thorns and maybe that's what gave her hope.

A stupid childish, foolish hope that had her slipping the rose into her hair; twisted into a stand of her dark hair and tucked behind her ear.

 _I'm not afraid of you._

Evidently the message had gotten across.

She came home that day to find the bakery closed. A note on the fridge written in her mom's handwriting reassured her that her parents were just going out to dinner. She ignored the part of the letter that said something about helping herself to leftovers in the fridge and made her way up to her room.

She jumped when she saw the boy sitting on her windowsill casually swinging his legs back and forth as he leaned slightly out of the open window seeming completely unconcerned about the risk of a second-story fall onto the sidewalk below should he make the mistake of leaning too far backwards.

"How did-" she trailed off and tried again. "Who are?-" she stopped yet again not sure which of her questions she wanted an answer to first.

"It's not obvious?" he asked. Smirking at her as he dropped to the floor.

She looked at the black cat ears on top of his head. Blinking. "You're-?" She snapped her mouth shut not wanting to say the rest of the sentence. The smirk and the gleam in his eyes was answer enough.

She looked him up and down, taking in his appearance he couldn't have been much older than her, he was maybe only five or six inches taller than her too. Blond hair and bright green eyes that seemed to glow in the fading light, the smirk on his lips widened to a grin exposing white teeth.

"People usually scream when I show up at their window." he said it so casually as if commenting on the weather.

She stared him down and put her hands on her hips oddly _annoyed_ with him of all things.

"And what if I'm not afraid of you?"

Another smirk as his feet covered the distance between them. "And why would you not be afraid of me?" His voice was low, dangerous with the undertone of what could be considered a snarl.

"I think you're a good person "

The laugh that bubbled out of his throat was so loud and so bitter that it did cause her to jump.

"We're on very different sides, Princess."

"Who says we have to be? You can be a good person, people change."

A disgusted scoff.

"You don't want to hurt me?"

He tilted his head to the side at that, the smirk going lopsided. "What makes you so sure about that?"

"Because you've been leaving these for days and you haven't done anything awful." She tugged at the rose in her hair.

"So you think just because nothing bad happens to you that I'm not a bad person? That's awfully high-and-mighty for you to assume."

"Then why haven't you killed me yet."

"Maybe I'm biding my time."

"I don't think you are."

"Again, don't assume-"

"I think you're a good person, I think you're confused."

"I think you're the one who's confused, Princess."

"Then why haven't you done anything to me? Why am I not dead?"

"Because-" he faulted, eyes flicking to the black rose twisted in her hair.

She realized that everything about the rest of their conversation had probably been planned by him. Pretty silver-tongued lies to make her think that she'd been right because that was what she wanted. She wanted to be right and she didn't realize it then but he wouldn't always give her what she wanted.

Which is what made her next words so double-sided.

"Prove it to me, prove that you're an awful, horrible person. Hurt me."

He took a step toward her and she closed her eyes; expecting a knife blade to slide between her ribs or slit her throat- she knew she had one on him- she'd seen the flash of metal right before she closed her eyes.

Nothing happened.

She opened her eyes expecting to see him right there in front of her but instead he had retreated back to the window, green eyes fixing her with a stare that she couldn't quite make sense of. Something dark and sad and bright and dangerous.

He lept out the window and she screamed as she watched him fall, but when she'd reached the window he had already vanished.

She believed that had been the end of it, that she had been right about everything. That there was goodness somewhere inside of everyone. He hadn't been able to hurt her and so he'd left her alone.

She wanted to believe she'd won.

And he gave her what she wanted.

Light flooded the bedroom so suddenly that she flinched.

Turning to see her mother standing in front of her light switch "Why are you in the dark?"

Marinette opened her mouth to reply with some excuse of looking at the stars out her window but was stopped short when she saw how pale her mother's face had gone.

"Where did you get that?" Marinette reached up to touch her hair, feeling the soft velvet petals of a rose. She'd forgotten it was there.

Her mother's panic was growing, showing clearly on her face.

Marinette lifted her hands up in a placating gesture. Tugging the rose out of her hair as she did so.

"If that's what I think it is we're going to have to call the police, move to a different house! He's coming after us next! He's going to burn the house down! We'll go up in smoke!"

"It doesn't mean anything." Marinette assured her mother, tossing the rose out of her window and watching it get swallowed by the shadows as it floated to the street.

Unaware that a pair of cat ears twitched in the alleyway below.

...

And now she was here, standing in that same alleyway as she watched the flames of the fire rise into the night sky.

She knew _he'd_ been the one to do it but she could only blame herself. She'd asked him to hurt her, and so he had.

He'd taken her words and twisted them to his liking but he'd given her what she wanted. Had her believe she'd won and then gone and hurt her like she wanted.

Given her what she asked for even though she hadn't really wanted any of it.

She slid down against the alley wall, fingers brushing something brittle and dry….dead rose petals crumbling to dust.


	20. Heathens

**Song: Heathens**

 **Artist: 21 Pilots**

* * *

"We're looking for someone who goes by the name Le Papillon, word on the street is that he's under your protection."

The chief of police stayed annoyingly silent.

Acidic green eyes fixed on the back of the man's head and there was the barely audible sound of leather as a white gloved hand came to rest on the man's shoulder.

"Look, since you're not going to make this easy for the both of us. I'm feeling generous, I'll let you go. I'll even give you a five second head start before I come after you."

The man's restraints fell away and he stood up from the chair, not even bothering to turn around and face his captors before he bolted.

Chat Blanc was already reaching for his weapon before the man had even covered a distance of twenty paces.

The weapon made a sickening thud as the thick metal baton struck the man in the back of the head, another thud as the man crumpled to the floor.

He went to retrieve his weapon.

Stepping over the body and walking into a hallway that lead him further into the police compound.

He looked over his shoulder to see Miss Fortune approach the body nudging a limp arm with her foot before stepping over the body with a look of disgust on her face. The type of look that someone might have on their face if they'd discovered a dead spider.

"I hate it when they don't talk, it makes more work for us."

"You want something done right, you do it yourself."

She made no reply, stepping past him as she marched her way deeper into the building, metallic red suit gleaming in the dim light as if someone had dipped the leather in blood.

"You coming?" She called over here shoulder.

She picked the lock on a door, slipping inside the dark room and he followed after her. The only light in the room came from the blue glow of about twenty computer monitors. She went to the central one that stood at the back of the room.

"Dammit." she swore.

"Language." Chat chided.

"Oh like you honestly care," She hissed back. "I'm _so_ not in the mood to hack a firewall right now, I'm not some technology geek." She complained, pushing herself away from the computer so hard that the swivel chair hit the wall.

"You might not be, but I know someone who is." Chat muttered, devilish grin spreading on his face.

"Come on, let's get out here I've got a plan."

–

"Last night was….disappointing." Marinette said by way of greeting the next morning.

"Absolutely frustrating." Adrien agreed as he slid into the spot next to her at the two person table.

"You said you had a plan."

"Do you doubt me?"

"No, I'd just like to know what you're going to get us into."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Like I figured out who you were from day one?"

"Exactly. Besides it's better that we know each other anyway, easier for us to bail each other out of trouble that way."

She smirked at him. "You say that like we've been caught before." He opened his mouth to reply but her attention had shifted to the girl who'd just crossed the threshold into the room.

"Alya." She said, voice deadpan and bored with a bite in the undertone. The brunette turned at the mention of her name. "Marinette." She responded, her tone equally as clipped.

"Did you hear what happened last night at the police station?" Marinette asked, starting up the guise of what would have seemed like a normal conversation but Adrien knew that Marinette just liked pushing Alya's buttons. The brunette was just too easily goded.

Alya's hands clenched into fists. "You bet I did, just you wait until I figure out who Chat Blanc and Miss Fortune are, they'll get thrown behind bars faster than any of us will be able to blink.

Marinette picked at her nails fringing disinterest in the conversation as she struggled to hid a smirk. "What makes you so sure _you'll_ be the one to figure it out, the whole of Paris has been trying for months."

"I just have a feeling."

 _Don't be so sure about that._ Marinette thought, not even bothering to hide her smirk anymore.

Alya turned away from them and sat down in her seat with a condescending sound, her best friend Cholé made an attempt to placate her temper. "Mari's not worth it. Don't give her the time of day."

 _Goody two shoes._ Marinette scoffed glaring at the back of the blonde girl's head.

She turned her attention back to Adrien who was clearly amused by the whole situation that had just took place. "You could have backed me up." She hissed.

"You've got your own claws you don't need mine."

She pouted, sliding closer to him and lowering her voice even more. "About this plan of yours-"

"Not telling." He replied with a smirk.

She pouted harder. "Aww, come on just a little hint?" She brushed her foot against his leg under the table.

He responded by resting his hand on her knee and squeezing. "Stop that."

She shot him a falsely innocent smile, one eyebrow raised. "Bite me."

"Tempting." He leaned closer to her, his attention focused over her shoulder. Green eyes watching their prey.

His breath brushing the shell of her ear as he spoke the name of his victim.

"Nino Lahiffe."

He felt her smile as he pulled away and stood on the desk, walking on top of it, jumping off into the aisle that separated the two sides of the room.

She waited about three seconds before following him.

"Nino, buddy, how you been?"

Nino eyed the hand that Adrien threw on his shoulder. "Good I guess….why are you talking to me?"

"Ouch, I'm going to pretend that doesn't hurt, come on man we used to be friends, how come we don't hang out anymore?"

"Because you're crazy, no offense dude but we stopped hanging out when you wanted to go a graffiti the mayor's house. You're basically a psychopath."

Marinette watched as the corners of Adrien's false smile twitch downward into a frown before he regained in his composure and slugged Nino in the shoulder with a laugh.

"Ha, look man I need a favor."

"What do ya want?"

"Glad you asked," Adrien said steering his former friend towards the classroom door. "Allow me to explain."

"What about class?"

"Don't worry, you won't miss anything interesting." He shot a look at Marinette when she tried to follow them.

Shaking his head. _Cover for me._ He mouthed as he pushed Nino out the door.

She plopped back into her seat, folding her arms and glaring at the door. How come he got to have all the fun?

They were gone all day.

Marinette went home, waiting in her room picking at her blood-red leather in pure boredom as she waited cross-legged on the bed. Normally she wouldn't have waited for him already transformed like this, but she was growing impatient.

There was a thud on the roof and in the next second his face appeared upside down in her window. White mask on his face.

Twisting in through her open window and landing in her room with not so much as a sound from the white leather boots on his feet.

She stood up from her bed. "Did you get them?"

He held up a folder and she grinned, making a grab for the file. He held it out of her reach. Taunting her. "Say please."

She rolled her eyes, smirk on her face as she took another step toward him, he took a step back holding the folder out of her reach as she leaned toward him, pinning him between the wall and her body.

She kissed him, biting down on his lip so hard that she tasted blood as she rose up on her toes to snatch the file from his hand.

She pulled away with a self-satisfied smirk as she watched him clean the blood off his lip, staining the white leather of his glove with a tiny red smear. Smiling like a cat who'd gotten the cream.

"Nino won't say a word?" she jabbed her finger into the file, applying enough pressure to make the flimsy cover bend inward, towards her finger.

"Hell no, not if he knows what's good for him."

Satisfied with his answer she opened the folder, blue eyes scanning the lines of information as a smile slowly spread across her lips.

She shut the folder again, tapping him on the nose with a corner of it before she tossed it over her shoulder onto her bed.

"Let's go catch ourselves a butterfly."


	21. Author's Note

**To the Guest Reviewer who left the request for MIKA's "Popular Song" This is the only way I could think to respond to you. I have no problem writing a story for the song that you requested. I watched the video as you suggested but I am unsure of what you want me to actually write about. Do you want another villain type story?**

 **If you happen to see this would you be so kind as to respond VIA review and give me a bit more information on what you want the story to be about. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. :)**


	22. Wake Me Up When September Ends

**Song: Wake Me Up When September Ends**

 **Artist: Green Day**

 **(Song requested by Guest)**

* * *

Thunder rumbled overhead as gray clouds gathered in the sky above the Eiffel Tower.

Adrien rested his elbows on the railing as he stared out over the horizon, trying to make out the skyline through the sudden torrential downpour of rain as as the clouds overhead finally burst, washing the Paris streets below in a cold autumn rain.

Someone brushed his shoulder, making him jump, fighting the urge to turn around and punch the person.

So many years as Chat Noir had made him jumpy.

He smothered the temptation to judo flip the stranger over his shoulder and throw them off of the building.

Turning instead to see who had bumped into him.

To his surprise he found out a stranger standing over his shoulder but Marinette.

He was glad that he hadn't flipped her over his shoulder... that would have been awkward to say the absolute least.

She stood there, one hand holding a black umbrella; the other hand still on his shoulder looking at him with some sort of expression in her blue eyes that he didn't even have the energy to try and comprehend.

She pulled her hand away from his shoulder taking a cautious step back. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

He turned back to examining the skyline before replying to her. Hoping that she would take the subtle hint and leave him alone to his grief even as he replied with a half-hearted. "It's fine."

She didn't reply but she didn't leave either so he searched for something to start a conversation before the silence between them could get too awkward. "How'd you know I was here?"

"Lucky guess?"

She came to stand next to him, free hand moving to grip the railing a beat of silence passed between them again- well as silent as it could be with the sound of the rain.

"What are you thinking about?" Her words were quiet- not that there was anything wrong with that. He'd always found her demeanor to be more... calming then the "shy girl" type that nearly everyone else had pegged her with- maybe she was a bit awkward around him most of the time but she seemed to be doing just fine right now.

"My dad." came his response; he glanced sideways at her expecting the usual "I'm so sorry for your loss" comment that he had been receiving for the past twenty-four hours.

She just looked at him with her bright blue eyes and gave him a smile, a small smile that held some kind of silent strength like the rest of her; and maybe it was that inner strength that prompted him to speak or maybe it was because she didn't offer any kind of empty 'apologies' for his father's death- even though he was absolutely certain that she had heard of it- all of Paris had heard of Gabriel Agreste's death. It had been all over the news. Leave it to his father to turn everything into his life into some sort of event- the man couldn't even _die_ without some sort of huge fanfare.

He took one look at that smile and turned away from her- he didn't want to start babbling in front of her. Not when he'd held everything together for everyone else, but the words wanted out and he didn't have enough willpower to stop them.

"It's... just weird to wrap my head around the fact that he's gone and it shouldn't feel weird because he wasn't really around that much anyway especially when Mom disappeared- but it does feel different… and I don't know how to deal with it. Part of me feels like this is all some vivid dream and I'll wake up seven years ago in the body of a fifteen year-old and he'll be there- yelling at me or ignoring me but at least he'll be there in some way….distant but not….gone."

Three beats of rain-filled silence before her quiet thoughtful voice reached his ears. "So….You're saying that you've been asleep for seven years?"

"I know crazy, right?"

"No."

He turned to look at her then, surprised by her response.

"No?"

"You... just kind of stop and watch the world go by because you're afraid that you can't keep up with it." She attempted to translate his words.

"Something like that...yeah."

"And now... something like this happens... and you have to "wake up" and face it but you're convinced that _this_ is the dream and you'll wake up and everything will be the way it was seven years ago like no time has passed at all."

He was at a loss for words.

It took him a full minute for his brain to formulate a response.

"How did-"

"I watched the world go by for a really long time."

"When did you "wake up"?"

The start of a blush creeped across her cheeks and she looked away for a split second before trying to meet his eyes again. "That day in the rain... when you gave me your umbrella."

Now he was even more speechless as he looked at the black umbrella she held in her other hand.

 _It's the same one?_

"... You...kept it?"

The blush on her cheeks deepened and she twisted the handle of the umbrella in her hand. "Y-Yeah..is that weird because I didn't mean for it to be weird I just thought that it was nice and I um.. thought you might want it back.. seven years late…" she trailed off as she extended the umbrella toward him.

"Better late than never."

"You're ruining the moment….Just...take the umbrella."

He did, his fingertips brushing her as he gripped the silver handle.

"I hope you wake up."

"Thanks." He said the word so quietly that he was certain that she hadn't heard him but she offered him a small melancholy smile and just nodded before she turned and walked away.

Adrien sighed and turned back to the city. Listening to the calming pitter patter of the rain against the fabric of the umbrella as a small smile inched its way onto his lips.


	23. Breakaway

**Song: Breakaway**

 **Artist: Kelly Clarkson**

* * *

 _Why did she feel so….useless? No that wasn't the word._

 _Ignored was probably closer to what she felt._

 _Sure she had friends and she was a nice person people talked to her and respected her opinions. The only person who had been so outwardly mean to her was Cholé- she was capable of telling the blonde off and standing her ground when it was absolutely necessary._

 _So why did she feel like her voice got lost in everybody else's?_

 _Why did she second guess her dreams?_

 _Why did she doubt herself…._

And why was her mind going down this track of thought again?

A twenty year-old Marinette shook herself out of her thoughts and concentrated on the flurry of activity going on around her.

New York wasn't all that different from Paris; at least in Marinette's eyes it wasn't- it was just another big city crowded with people.

It moved too fast.

It was too much.

She'd moved here just a year ago, seeking to make a name for herself in a new place that she hoped would inspire her. Offer her new ideas. New aesthetic.

Now it all seemed too different.

Too foreign.

Terrifying instead of exciting and a sudden wave of nostalgia and homesick gripped her so hard that she wouldn't be surprised if she had a full on mental breakdown right there in the middle of the sidewalk in front of all the passerby.

That would really give them reason to stare.

Perhaps her earlier train of thought had triggered the bout of homesick or vice versa.

Either way, the next logical step for her was to pull out her phone and book a weekend flight to Paris.

She needed a vacation.


	24. Shadows

**Song: Shadows**

 **Artist: Sabrina Carpenter**

(this is really short and in no way even comes close to doing the song any kind of justice) :(

* * *

"I'm an awful person."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because of my father-"

"What your father does doesn't make _you_ an awful person. You're not an awful person, Adrien."

"He insulted your hat design and accused you of cheating! -off of Cholé of all people. To your face and I just stood there and let him do it… I'm the worst friend ever."

"No, your not. I can handle rejection that's part of how I teach myself to be better. We learn from our mistakes "

"I still feel like I should have done something, he my father I should be able to stand up to him by now."

"I know you want to, but I also know that it's hard to get rid of labels that people give you."

"...he expects me to be the quiet well-behaved son who doesn't talk back... and so I don't... even though I want to sometimes."

"I know."


	25. Cool Kids

**Song: Cool Kids**

 **Artist: Echosmith**

* * *

Wanting to fit in was such a teenager cliche but Marinette couldn't help it.

She had Alya- who needed anyone else?

So why did she feel so out of the loop sometimes? Like she was missing out on some inside joke that everyone else in their entire grade seemed to know. Was it really so bad to feel like she was different- aside from the whole superhero- that should have qualified her as the "coolest of the cool" but really it only succeed in making her feel more distance from everyone else.

...

Everyonene loved to assume Adrien's life was perfect.

'his dad's rich and famous'

'he's a model'

' he has "totally got it made!" '

What the heck did that last one even mean?

They didn't know about how his mother had disappeared.

How his father was strict and controlling to the point where Adrien had been home schooled up until last year.

Wait, wait wait wait. The superhero thing. At least he had that going for him,, right?

That depends. He'd admit ten times over that he loved being Chat Noir- that was if he'd ever be allowed to tell anyone about his alter-ego without the risk of word somehow getting back to Hawkmouth- but there were always two sides to the same coin.

He didn't like having to lie to Nino and come up with excuses as to why he had to suddenly rush off when they were hanging out.

Why he had to explain to Natalie that he'd slept through his alarm without saying the words "fighting" and "akuma" in the same sentence thanks to his sleep deprived brain.

How he had to convince his physical education teacher that the reason he could suddenly run a mile in five minutes when three weeks ago his record had been twice that and why he could suddenly perform a backflip with no hesitation (the backflip thing had been on accident the dodgeball had been coming at his face and his reflexes had kicked in; he hadn't realized that he'd done it until he was on his feet and had looked up to see the entire gym staring at him) was because he was "working out" and not because he faced possibly life threatening situations on a day to day basis that had trained him to run that fast or perform stunts- that normally would have been difficult to master for someone his age- out of pure desire to avoid getting smacked in the face with a dodgeball.

He hadn't even attempted to brush the situation off by just laughing and saying that he'd technically not done anything wrong because he had dodged the ball and that was the entire point of the game. He'd been too self-conscious with everyone staring at him.

He hated lying to everyone about half of his life.

So whenever someone tried to compliment him with "wow, I wish I had your life" it would trigger the internal response of "No, I don't think you really do."


	26. Please Don't Say You Love Me

**Song: Please Don't Say you Love Me**

 **Artist: Gabrielle Aplin**

(Alternative Opening Scene to Dark Cupid Wherein it's Marinette who wrote the love letter to Adrien and not Adrien writing one for Ladybug)

* * *

Marinette stared down at the heart shaped piece of construction paper. She was about to write a love letter to Adrien…. _love._

Why did a four letter word give her so much cause to panic?

What was so special about the word anyway? Why did anyone confess their love for anything? Sure it was a nice word to hear but why did everyone feel the need to say it? Shouldn't actions speak louder than words. Oh boy if she was going to live by that standard of thinking then it was no wonder her brain had insisted she write him a letter instead. At least she couldn't stutter if she was writing a letter.

Well...almost. She could still second guess herself and scribble out her sentences. Which was what she was doing now.

She slammed her head on her desk in frustration and groaned. This entire idea was stupid.

She realized in that moment that she didn't want to carry on with her own scheme

It wasn't just the fear of rejection that had her crumpling the letter and throwing it into the trashcan, but some small part of her realized that she was okay with not confessing her crush to Adrien just yet.


	27. Home

**Song: Home**

 **Artist: Phillip Phillips**

There comes a time in everyone's life when they ask the very important question of: Why me?

Adrien asked himself this question as he stared in disbelief at the tiny black cat who was currently trapped between his hands.

"What are you?"

"I'm a Kwami."

 _What the heck is a Kwami?_

"I grant superpowers; yours is the power of destruction, make sense?"

Adrien shook his head, mute as his thoughts screamed.

 _Nothing about this makes sense! I'm talking to a tiny cat who can fly! And he thinks he makes sense! I've gone crazy._

Why had Adrien of all people been chosen to carry the responsibility of being a superhero charged with protecting all of Paris?

All he had done was help an old man on the street, such a simple good deed qualified a person to become a superhero?

The Kwami sighed in annoyance.

"Look I'll explain all of this in depth later, the gist of it is that you've been chosen to become the next Chat Noir. And your mission whether you choose to accept or not; is to battle Hawkmouth and his demon-"

"Demon?!" Adrien choked, his panic now very much external rather than internal.

"You're right when I word it like that it does sound ridiculous they're called akumas- the Japanese word for demon. Hawkmoth has the power to transform anyone in emotional turmoil by infusing butterflies with negative energy-"

"Demon butterflies?"

Yes that's what I said- Don't look at me like I'm crazy."

"You're not the one who's crazy. I'm the one hallucinating a floating, talking cat….and talking to it. If anyone's crazy it's me."

"I told my name was Plagg."

"Okaaay."

"Look don't sweat kid, you'll get used to me."

"Don't know if I want to."

"Too bad, you were chosen. You got something special in you kid."

"Look, all I did was help an old man after he fell. And that qualifies me to take on demonic butterflies?"

"He seems to think so, yes."

"No pressure."

"Don't sweat it kid, if I'm awake chances are that Tikki is awake too."

"Tikki?"

"That's the name of the Kwami who belongs to your partner Ladybug."

"Partner?"

"Yeah- Well besides me of course I don't really count because I technically won't be with you, I'll be inside your Miraculous. Ladybug and Chat Noir have always been partners in battle good luck and bad, opposites to balance each other. Ever heard of the Yin and Yang concept?"

Adrien nodded.

"Finally! Something I don't have to explain. Now. I've been asleep for who knows how long and I'm _starving_.


	28. I Dare You

**Song: I Dare You**

 **Artist: Bea Miller**

* * *

She wasn't going to take any more of Cholé self-righteous attitude.

"Shut up."

Cholé scowled. "What did you just say?"

"I think you heard me, but just in case I'll tell you one more time. Shut. Up."

"Well-"

"No, I don't want to hear any sort of excuse that comes out of your mouth. You have no right to act like you're better than everyone else just because you're the mayor's daughter doesn't mean you can use it as an excuse to act the way you do. I'm not going to let you push me around anymore. Insult me or anyone else again within my earshot- I dare you- we'll see what happens."

Cholé opened her mouth likely to counter Marinette's speech but Marinette turned her back on the blonde and marched away.


	29. I Found

**Song: I Found**

 **Artist: Amber Run**

Adrien's feelings toward Ladybug made perfect sense to him and that was what drove him insane.

It made sense to him. Why didn't it make sense to her?

Granted they rarely interacted as Adrien and Ladybug. Most of the time when they saw each other it was when he was Chat, but it wasn't like that stopped him from trying to get her attention. He'd admit that he was being obvious in his attempts to the point where even he admitted that it was annoying but it wouldn't have come to that if she would just….notice him.

Now... Marinette was a good friend of his and if someone had told him two weeks ago that Marinette and Ladybug were the same person he would have looked at them like they'd grown a second head- not because he thought the idea obscured but because it would have thrown him into a state of denial and shock.

Not denial that Marinette was Ladybug but denial that he'd need a stranger's words to confirm what was now so painfully obvious! Denial that someone else had put two and two together before he did when he saw Marinette on a _daily_ basis!

Denial that he couldn't recognize the "love of his life" when she was standing right in front of him.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

Stuff like that didn't _happen_ especially not to _him_.

There was no way he had lucked out _that_ much and not seen it.


	30. Drop Your Guard

**Song: Drop Your Guard**

 **Artist: Jasmine Thompson**

* * *

Adrien stared at Marinette in disbelief as she appeared after the flash of pink tinted light.

She looked at him and nervously rubbed her arm when she caught sight of his expression.

"Not what you expected, right?"

Honesty. She needed honesty right now.

"No, not really." He admitted.

Her nervousness shifted into disappointment and he rushed to finish his sentence.

"That's not a bad thing, honestly now that I know you and Ladybug are the same person I feel extremely stupid for not seeing it sooner." He laughed at his own stupidity, trying to lighten the mood but Marinette's expression stayed grim.

"Why do you care so much about who Ladybug is?"

"Because you're in love with her and you barely notice me," she gestured to herself; standing before him in her plain pink jeans, white shirt and black jacket. "I guess I thought you would be disappointed that it was me."

"You need to stop being so hard on yourself. I could never be disappointed in you, in either side of you _ever_."

"Cat's honor?"

"Cat's honor." He repeated, smiling at the thought that she had remembered that specific promise of his from so long ago. "You didn't have to show me." He added,

"Yes, I did. I kept the secret too long anyway, someone else is going to figure it out eventually. I owed it to you to show you first….because we're partners and friends and I trust you."


	31. Eyes Open

**#30 Everybody! It's finally done! :)**

 **...**

 **Song: Eyes Open**

 **Artist: Taylor Swift**

* * *

What kid doesn't secretly wish they could be a superhero?

What kid doesn't want to take credit for saving their city or the entire world in some cases/

Adrien and Marinette were quickly learning that being a teenaged superhero wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Talk about pressure. Why did they even bother going to school if they had to keep making up excuses to leave?

For Marinette most of the time after she woke up from nightmares of losing her Miraculous and then being brutally killed by the gloating, victorious akuma victim (and in the worse cases Hawkmoth himself) she would recall the very specific incident when she _had_ almost lost. The very first villain she had ever fought. She'd released the akuma without purifying it and as a result she had indirectly created an army of stone monsters, re-akumatized Ivan and almost caused Chloe to be thrown off of the Eiffel Tower (she'd saved her of course, some days she nearly regretted doing that) and gotten herself yelled at by the chief of police for ('haven't you done enough?'

They hadn't believed in her then.

They believed in her now.

She wasn't sure which was worse

That was the worst thing about being a superhero who was often referred to as Lady Luck.

It was the expectations that everyone had of her. They wanted and expected her to be nothing less than perfect. To win every battle, to fix everything with a simple battle shout of the words "Miraculous Ladybug"

Yeah...no pressure at all.

What made it worse is that she _knew_ everyone was watching her. Hell her _best friend_ ran the number one fan blog in all of Paris.

What would they all think if...one day she lost?

No..That was _not_ an option she had to have faith in herself.

…

Adrien wished that he was one of those people who could sleep with his eyes open.

Not that he really believed that would stop the nightmares.

He jolted awake with a gasp and sat bolt upright staring at the wall, his heatbeat eritic in his chest as he tried to forget the images that were already receding into his subconscious.

There had been blood. Blood and screaming. He couldn't remember if the screaming had been his or Ladybug's, if it had been her blood or his own. There had been so many of them or then was normal. It had gone wrong so fast.

He subconsciously rubbed his right shoulder. Where he'd been shot with an arrow. It was only the memory of pain that caused him to rub at the muscle through the material of his shirt. Normally akuma attacks didn't cause him physical harm and even if they did the Miraculous Ladybug spell usually healed the worse of his and Ladybug's injuries but the spell didn't seem capable of erasing scars- physical or emotional. It was only a matter of time before he suffered an injury that left a scar that wasn't so easily covered up with a peice of clothing or the pitiful excuse of "It was just a nightmare"

What if there came a day when it was too much and he couldn't save someone he cared about?

Suffered an injury that not even a miracle spell could save him from?

No...he couldn't afford to think like that.


End file.
